The Colonial Newsletter, no. 159

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COLONX AL N EWSLEinriER

A Research Journal in Early American Numismatics

Volume 55, Number 3 December 2015 Serial Number 159

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CNL - 159

Editorial
Page 4319

Jeff Rock

Bungtown Bonanza!

The Discovery — and Rediscovery —
of an Extremely Rare Connecticut
Copper

Pages 4321-4325

Ron Miller, PhD
and

Gary Gianotti

Hidden Initials by the Early American
Engravers Guild:

A Novel Approach to the Authentication
and Attribution of Silver Oval George
Washington Indian Peace Medals
Pages 4326-4362

US ISSN 0010-1443

Copyright ©2015

The American Numismatic Society

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December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4318

The Colonial Newsletter (CNL) is published three times a year by The American Numismatic
Society (ANS), 75 Varick Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10013. CNL is available at the rate of
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Editor Emeritus: James C. Spilman |

CNL Staff

Editor: Oliver D. Hoover <CNL@numismatics.org>
Contributing Editor: Philip L. Mossman, M.D.
Associate Editor: Dr. Louis E. Jordan
Associate Editor: Dr. John M. Kleeberg
Associate Editor: John J. Kraljevich, Jr.

Associate Editor: Gary Trudgen

Visit the ANS website at <www.numismatics.org>and the CNL web page at
<www.numismatics . org/ CNL/ CNL> .

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Submitting Material for Publication

We encourage our readers to consider submitting material on early North American numismatics
to CNL for publication. In general, this includes coins, tokens, paper money, and medals that
were current before the U.S. Federal Mint began operations in 1793. However, there are certain
pieces produced after the 1793 date that have traditionally been considered part of pre-Federal
numismatics and should be included. We cover ah aspects of study regarding the manufacture and
use of these items. Our very knowledgeable and friendly staff will assist potential authors to finalize
submissions by providing advice concerning the text and help with illustrations. Submissions in
either electronic or hard copy format, should be sent to the editor via the e-mail address given above
or through the ANS at their postal address. Electronic text submissions should be formatted in Word
with separate grayscale images.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4319

Editorial

Jeff Rock kicks off this issue of The
Colonial Newsletter with a discussion
of the rare Miller 2.3-T Bungtown
Connecticut copper type and some
thoughts about collecting in our times.
His look back on the previous era of great
sales and on the opportunities provided
by the market at present and in the near
future are particularly fitting for a year-
end issue.

The bulk of C/VL-159 is taken up by
an interesting subject that has only
rarely graced the pages of The Colonial
Newsletter before: early Indian Peace
Medals. In a challenging article by Ron
Miller and Gary Gianotti, the authors
argue that the engravers responsible
for the oval George Washington Indian
Peace Medals of 1792 and 1793 signed
their work by hiding their initials in
the cross-hatching and other design
elements. Based on the initials that they
have deciphered, it is suggested that a
guild of Philadelphia engravers centered
on Robert Scot and especially Joseph
Wright Jr. worked together to produce the
medals.

This article pushes the bounds of
traditional interpretation and will no doubt
spark much debate. Who knows, maybe
engraved George Washington Indian

Peace Medals will become the new
Wood-33 in the pages of The Colonial
Newsletter. Readers may recall the spate
of disagreement regarding this popular
Blacksmith/Evasion copper in CA/L-156
and 157. On the other hand, authentic
Washington Indian Peace Medals are
somewhat more difficult for the average
collector to find (and afford!) than a good
example of a Wood-33 and therefore
perhaps less likely to incite passions than
coins that almost everyone has in their
collections. I know that I have far fewer
(total 0) of the medals than I would really
like in my personal collection. In fact, the
only way I get to spend any time with
them at all has been through preparing
the forthcoming catalogue of the Indian
Peace Medals in the cabinet of the
American Numismatic Society.

It is a somewhat rare occasion when
articles have been submitted for CNL
well in advance of the next issue, but
I am extremely happy to report that in
CA/L-160 readers can look forward to
an important article on Ricketts's Circus
tokens by Roger Siboni as well as an
update on finds of Islamic coins in early
American contexts. There are a lot more
than anyone seems to have guessed,
reminding us yet again just how great
it is to be living in the age of the metal

Sequential page 4320 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

detector. The April issue will also see the
return of the plate series dedicated to
publishing the Colonial coins in the ANS
collection.

Oliver D. Hoover
CNL@numismatics.org

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4321

Bungtown Bonanza!

The Discovery — and Rediscovery — of an Extremely Rare
Connecticut Copper

by

Jeff Rock; San Diego, CA

Collectors of colonial coins are used to extreme rarities in pretty much every series. There are
major types and die varieties that are legendary — and which seldom appear for sale. Decades,
a generation, a lifetime, or even a century or more can go by without some of these pieces ever
appearing for public sale, and the longer the stretch between sightings of a particular variety,
the more hallowed it becomes.

Collectors of today, however, have lived through an amazing period in numismatic history —
one that is really unprecedented, and perhaps has gone unrecognized for the opportunities
it has offered. In a period of just 35 years we have witnessed a flood of Colonials coming to
the market. In that time major collections like Garrett, Roper, Picker, Taylor, Norweb, Brand,
Eliasberg, Oechsner, Ford, and Newman have all come to auction, as well as the first section
of the legendary Partrick collection (with future sections of that collection currently on hold,
but expected to be sold within the next 5-10 years). To these major auctions one can add a
multitude of smaller, perhaps more specialized sales to the list — Perkins, Griffee, O’Donnell,
Mains. Matlock, Hinkley, Lindesmith, H. Garrett, Cole, Hessberg, Collins, Foreman — the list
goes on and on, and another three dozen “name sales" could be added without much effort.

When one takes a look at the first group of major sales, one is struck by the fact that a very large
number of the coins that they contained were off the market for periods of 50-100 years, and
those collections contained some of the rarest of the rare Colonial coins. Garrett was a multi-
generation collection that was held in a college museum for another half century after it was
formed. Norweb was also a multi-generation collection and held intact by the family until it was
decided to sell. Brand and Eliasberg were formed by single collectors, but were off the market
(at least some parts of the Brand collection) for decades after their owners passed away. The
Ford and Newman collections both contained coins from earlier collectors that were acquired
privately — Ford with the majority of the F. C. C. Boyd collection (which included the Ryder
collection and chunks of the Dr. Hall and Virgil Brand collections) and Newman with delicacies
from the Colonel Green collection — meaning many of the coins in those two collections were
last publicly offered for public sale a century or more ago.

It would boggle the mind of a collector from, say, the 1940s or even the 1970s to think of the
huge number of Colonials that have come on the market in just this 35-year period. Perhaps
the only time something even remotely comparable happened was in the era when the Mickley,
Bushnell, Crosby, Parmalee, and a few other major collections were sold in a similar stretch
of time — and, of course, many of those coins went into these later major collections which
had been off the market for long periods. This embarrassment of riches has given all of us
an unprecedented chance to add things to our collections — including things that we probably
thought we would never actually get the chance to see, let alone bid on.

One of the most interesting areas, at least for this writer, was the extremely crude contemporary
counterfeit Connecticut coppers dated 1786, popularly known as the “Bungtown Issues.” While
going into the history of this group — all clearly related to each other — is something that will
be done in more detail when Randy Clark’s Connecticut copper book reaches print, a brief
overview is permissible here. A single variety was known to Betts, who was the first to illustrate

Sequential page 4322 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

it in 1886. Another specimen of the same variety was known to Dr. Hall when he added one to
his collection in the next decade. Other varieties, similar in crudeness and rarity came to light
over the next century or so, with Ned Barnsley attempting to put them into some order. He listed
four known varieties. This author continued his listing of them in his 1991 Colonial Newsletter
article updating Miller — but this was done without ever seeing any examples in hand, only
through the use of photographs of differing quality (and these photos were of coins that were
crude to say the least). ^ Eventually the list of known varieties climbed to seven, some of which
appear to be from the same die, with repair work or recutting of elements making them different
enough to be considered new varieties.

To specialists, the 1786 Bungtowns were indeed pieces of legendary rarity — the only public
auction of one was in the 1919 Miller Sale. Every sale of Connecticut coppers offered since that
time up to the 2005 sale of the Connecticut coppers portion of the John Ford collection has not
had any Bungtown variety, including the famous EAC 75 sale. To finally hold and examine the
Ford specimen was simply amazing. While dreams of owning something like that were quickly
squelched when the sale price hit almost $100,000 (setting a record for a Connecticut copper
that would last until the Keller sale over a half decade later), for someone who really enjoys
this series, it was akin to an art lover being able to hold the Mona Lisa and examine it in detail.

Fast forward a couple years when, surprise, a private collector decided to sell his few remaining
coins - including a small group of 1 786 Bungtown Connecticut coppers! Bought from the 1 950’s
to the early 1970’s, all from private sources, these coins were mostly unknown to the collecting
community and were quickly placed into another private collection. While not “publicly” offered
for sale (i.e. at an auction or in a price list), the coins were shared by their new owner. Experts
were permitted to view and study them and their existence was added to the roster of known
specimens. That list of known pieces then included four other coins, two of which are in the
permanent collection of the American Numismatic Society (one coming from Ned Barnsley via
the Colonial Newsletter Foundation Collection) and two more in the Eric Newman collection,
which was also presumed to be off the market until recently.

The Newman pieces both sold in 2014, one for a little less than the Ford coin and the other for
such a ridiculously low price that more than one of us in the audience considered it to be the
bargain of the sale - but the winning bidder was prepared to go much, much higher so many of
us just sighed and put our hands down, knowing we weren’t going to win that battle.

With the sale of the Newman pair, all known specimens of the 1786 Bungtown Connecticut
copper types that were held privately had been seen and offered for sale (not including the pair
in the ANS, of course) in a period of just under a decade. Again, an embarrassment of riches
since the last public sale was 1 919, nearly a century earlier! Well, at least we thought all known
specimens had been seen... and we finally get to the real story here.

A few weeks after the Newman sale was completed, and the coin newspapers had run stories
on the amazing coins and even more amazing prices, the author received a phone call from a
metal detectorist he had purchased things from in the past. The conversation started off with,
“Hey, I have one of those counterfeit Connecticut copper thingies that just sold for a lot of
money. I found it about 8 or 9 years ago.” My answer was, “No, you don’t. Those are extremely
rare. You probably have a Connecticut copper from 1786 or maybe one of the crude counterfeit
British halfpennies that look kind of similar, especially if you can’t see much of the legend.” His
response was, “Hang on, let me take a pic with my phone.” When I saw the image my shocked
reply was only, "You really do have one!” Amazingly, the piece had lain unidentified in his “junk
box” (his words) of ground finds, with other pieces, some of which were Colonial, that he was

1

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4323

Figure 1. The new Miller 2.3-T Bungtown type (top) compared to the Miller-Ford example (bottom).
Note especially the distinct seated Liberty figure on the reverse.

Top photo courtesy of Jack Howes and bottom photo courtesy of Stack's -Bowers.

not able to identify by variety (the ones he was able to identify usually ended up sold on e-bay
or, if slightly better varieties, sold to dealers like me).

The finder's cell phone images were not the greatest, but good enough to recognize the coin as
the Miller 2.3-T type, the variety that was in the Ford sale.^ The coin was eventually sent out to
me, arriving just in time to take to this year’s C4 Convention in Baltimore, where it thrilled some
people, and left others somewhat less impressed because of its condition.^

The coin itself was probably fairly high grade when it was first lost. The surviving central detail
is similar to the Miller-Ford coin, although a couple centuries in the ground have eaten away
much of the peripheral detail. Traces of the legends can be seen, which certainly help to
identify the variety, but the unique style of the reverse figure is more than enough for purposes
of identification.

The new example is illustrated in Figure 1 along with the Miller-Ford coin for comparison
purposes.

2 The number will change when Randy Clark finishes his book, in which all the counterfeits are removed
from the Miller 2 obverse family and given their own separate numbers.

3 I am one of those people that think any R-8 variety is worth owning, even if it can be barely identified!

Sequential page 4324 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

The ground find measures 27.70 mm in diameter and weighs 102.9 grains. The Ford piece is
a little larger at 28.1 mm and 124.1 grains — the difference on the present example probably
due to erosion while it was in the ground. The Ford piece is noted as being coin turn, while the
ground find specimen has the reverse rotated 270 degrees. It is impossible to ascertain the die
state on the found coin, but there seems to have been no appreciable die damage to any of
the Bungtown varieties, suggesting that the counterfeiters recut/repaired dies when any sort of
damage appeared.

When dealing with many metal detecorists, getting accurate information about when and where
something was found is often impossible — some just do not keep records, while others are
secretive about sites that they are working, especially ones that yield items of value. This is
understandable, and I was initially told the piece was found “near New Haven, but not in it.” A
little more pressing — with no request for exact GPS coordinates or anything like that — yielded
the fact that it was found in the city of North Branford, which is about 12 miles east of New
Haven.

Far more interesting than either the "where" or the "when" was the “what” question — specifically,
what else was found at the site? Not being a controlled archaeological dig, no records were
kept of the depth of various finds, and as expected there were two hundred years’ worth of
coins and artifacts found, ranging from more modern coins and bottle caps found on or slightly
under the surface, to older pieces found at the depth of several inches or over a foot in some
cases. The site is (or was) vacant, with the foundation of an older house still visible — the type
of venue a metal dectorist always enjoys hunting around.

Colonial issues found at this site over the course of more than a year and 20 or more separate
different visits, but found at roughly the same general depth as the Connecticut Bungtown,
include over a dozen Connecticut coppers (two of which came in the same shovelful of earth
with the Bungtown, a pair of Hibernia halfpennies (dates not visible), over 20 counterfeit British
halfpence, a single New Jersey copper, and numerous large cents (but oddly no half cents,
which is something the detectorist always hopes to find). Because of the soil condition and
dampness, all of the copper issues (including pieces as modern as later-date Indian Head
cents) showed signs of surface corrosion. The silver coinage (sadly, none of it was Colonial)
fared much better; no gold was found at all. Artifacts found at the same general depth of the
Colonials and early U.S. copper included buttons, broken clay pipes, shoe buckles, and horse
harness equipment, as well as the usual mishmash of parts of things that could not be identified
immediately.

The new find effectively seals the debate about when and, possibly, where the Bungtowns were
made. Some have thought them to be later concoctions based solely on the fact that it was
C. Wyllys Betts who found and illustrated the first example. This is the same Betts who made
crude copies of Colonials in his youth, although these have no stylistic similarity whatsoever to
the Connecticut Bungtown and Betts illustrated numerous other counterfeits that have never
been questioned, including Atlee/Machin’s Mills coppers and 1781 and 1785 dated counterfeit
British halfpence. The discovery of the Connecticut Bungtown alongside other Colonial coppers
proves it to be of the same period. Certainly it would not have been struck after the Coppers
Panic of 1789 wiped out the value of Connecticut coppers. Indeed, the 1786 date may well be
the year it was actually struck. If it was produced at the same time that some of the unusual
1786 varieties (Miller 1-A, 2.1 -A, 2.1-D.3, 2.2-D.3, 3-D.1, and 3-D.4 are all especially crude)
were made, it might not have stood out as especially unusual. Once the more standardized
version of the 1787 Draped Bust varieties were introduced, these earlier, cruder varieties may
have been less acceptable in commerce, at least in a larger city, which might explain why the
coin was found a dozen miles outside of New Haven. North Branford was not incorporated

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4325

as a city until 1831, although there were obviously people living in the rural area well before
then, and there are examples of Colonial and Early American style houses within the city.
Presumably residents would have traveled into New Haven or other nearby, larger towns for
supplies, etc., as there do not appear to have been any businesses in the area at this early
date. At least there were none that could be found through various Google searches.

While one coin does not answer all questions, its find in Connecticut, and very close to New
Haven proper, suggests that the Connecticut Bungtowns were made locally. Really, the only two
areas that make sense for them to have been produced is in Connecticut, where the type was
well known and would have passed fairly easily, or New York where the Machin’s Mills facility
was adept at turning out crude, lightweight pieces. Walter Breen’s suggestion that vague and
mysterious North Swansea, Massachusetts, Bungtown mints produced Colonial counterfeits
lacks any proof, although it is possible that they made some of the counterfeit Massachusetts
cents, or, more likely, counterfeit British coppers and Spanish silver coinage. This is a good
example of Breen's thought process: “Here we have some counterfeits and there we have a
counterfeit mint site mentioned in passing in some records. Therefore the two must be related.
Eureka!” Unfortunately, some of Breen's theories, like this one have sometimes become set in
stone and treated as unchangeable even despite evidence to the contrary. This is not say that
all of Breen’s work is flawed, it just means that careful reading and a thorough examination of
his sources is needed before anything is taken as gospel. Indeed, this is good advice when
considering the work of any author.

Needless to say, the discovery of this coin — and, nearly a decade later, the discovery of what it
actually was! — has been a thrilling event for the person who found it. It was just as thrilling for
this writer, who has now seen all specimens of these Bungtowns in person, save for the one in
the ANS from The Colonial Newsletter Foundation and Ned Barnsley Collections.

It may seem unusual that they all came out in just a decade or so, but what a decade this has
been. Every known example of the silver Continental dollar has been sold in the period of a
few years. More Higley coppers, NE and Willow Tree shillings, CONFEDERATIO coppers.
New York “patterns,” and other extreme rarities have been sold in the last 15 years than in the
preceding century. We are fortunate to be living through a pretty remarkable time in the history
of our little slice of the numismatic hobby. We should enjoy it while it lasts. If history is any
indication, we could go from flood to drought once the current rounds of sales are done.

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Hidden Initials by the Early American Engravers Guild:

A Novel Approach to the Authentication and Attribution of Silver Oval
George Washington Indian Peace Medals

by

Ron Miller, PhD; Charleston, SC
and

Gary Gianotti; Milford, CT
Silver Oval George Washington Indian Peace Medals

Virtually all we know to date about the silver oval Indian Peace Medals distributed during
George Washington’s administration can be attributed to the writings of a few talented and
passionate numismatists. Some of these individuals include (in no particular order): Bauman L.
Belden, Francis R Prucha, George Fuld, John Kraljevich, Russell Rulau, Anthony Terranova,
Michael Hodder, and Barry Tayman. The objective of this article is to shed some light on a
plausible method of authentication of this challenging series through attribution.

During George Washington’s administration, Peace Medals were an important part of the United
States Federal Government’s relationship with Native Americans. They were often presented
to tribal leaders to secure treaties and cement political loyalties. The Native Americans loved
ceremony and formality in the presentation of medals. The large silver oval, hand-engraved
Washington medals dated 1789, 1792, 1793, and 1795, were produced in three sizes with the
largest typically reserved for the principal chief or “great-medal chief.” Each medal is believed
to have been manufactured using two thin sheets of silver (one dedicated to the obverse and
one to the reverse) joined together by a band of flattened silver wire fashioned with a loop at
the top for suspension. Due to their unique construction and hand-engraving by Philadelphia-
area silversmiths, the discernment of authenticity has traditionally relied upon the quality of
craftsmanship and/or absolute, unequivocal pedigrees. Counterfeiting has been and continues
to be an issue with these silver oval medals.

In 201 1 , the late George Fuld conducted a census of all authentic and “questionable” silver oval
Washington peace medals and located 42 specimens.^ Fuld went on to guess that a total of
500 oval medals were initially produced with only about 50 genuine medals still in existence.
He recognized only about 10% of the extant genuine specimens in the fortunate hands of one
or two private collectors, and the rest residing with the American Numismatic Society, various
historical societies, museums, and the Public Archives of Canada.

One of the earliest and most authoritative books on Indian Peace Medals by Bauman Belden
distinguished nine different silver oval Washington Peace Medal designs (or "plates").^
Belden’s classification of these varieties is still widely used today. It is unclear who designed
these medals, but certainly, the designer realized that the United States’ fledgling mint could
not strike a medal or coin larger than a silver dollar. Local Philadelphia artists hired by the
U.S. Mint employed similar designs dictated by the Quartermaster General, Thomas Mifflin of
Philadelphia.

The obverse design is reminiscent of the reverse of the Happy While United Indian Peace
Medal engraved by Robert Scot in Williamsburg or Richmond in 1780 (Fig. 1). It depicts an

1 George J. Fuld, "Washington Oval Peace Medals," in George J. Fuld (ed.). Peace Medals: Negotiating
Peace in Early America (Tulsa, OK): 52-62.

2 Bauman L. Belden, Indian Peace Medals Issued in the United States 1789-1889 (New York, 1927)

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4327

Figure 1. Happy While Indian Peace Medal, by Robert Scot, Richmond or Williamsburg,

Virginia, 1780. From the collections of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (http://www.
history.org/history/teaching/enewsletter/volume8/oct09/primsource.cfm?showSite=mobile).

r

Figure 2. Frontispiece Mico Chlucco the Long Warrior or King of the
Seminole s, from Bartram’s Travels published in Philadelphia in 1791.
From Wikipedia (https ://en .m. wikipedia. org/wiki/B artram' s_Travels) .

Sequential page 4328 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

American Indian and an Anglo-
American smoking a calumet,
a ceremonial smoking pipe.
Philadelphia engraver James
Trenchard’s Mico Chlucco the
Long Warrior engraV\ng (Fig. 2)
published in 1791 possesses
nearly identical styling of the
Indian headdress feathers
seen on these oval medals.
Lastly, and perhaps most
interesting, the oval shape
of the medals, suggestive
of a tortoise shell, combined
with the inclusion of a tree
strongly alludes to the Oneida
tribe’s (of upstate New York)
Haudenonsaunee Creation
Story. In this story, the great
turtle of the earth had a tree
grow from its back, and the
earth grew to become North
America, the Turtle Island. This
exact design can be found on
a silver gorget engraved by
Peter Getz, arguably the first
employee of the Federal Mint,

(Fig. 3). Getz was a young
silversmith from Lancaster, PA
(65 miles west of Philadelphia)
who was hired by the
Pennsylvania U.S. Senator
Robert Morris in late 1791 to
engrave to his specifications
"sample coins" (i.e., patterns)
for the U.S. Mint. According to
Stack’s, Getz formally applied
for a job at the U.S. Mint in the
summer of 1792.^ We assume
that Getz used the motif
found on the oval Washington
medals for his gorget or vice versa.

Figure 3. Oval engraved American trade silver gorget by Peter
Getz with tree of life atop turtle’s back. Hallmarked "PG" in large
block letters. From the collection of John Armiger Sold by Cowan’s
Auctions March 10, 2005 (http://www.cowanauctions.com/auctions/
item . aspx ?ltemld=2 1071).

The reverse design on the Washington silver oval medals bears the arms of the
United States taken from the Great Seal design stunningly executed by James
Trenchard for the September 1786 issue of Columbian Magazine (Fig. 4).
Notice the randomly placed stars and clouds forming an arc with rays of glory stretching upward
and outward. The outlines of the shield and eagle were engraved first on the oval medals.
These were followed by details of the feathers, internal shield lines, the banner and motto
E PLURIBUS UNUM, and lastly the horizontal lines behind the eagle’s head along with the
clouds and the rays of glory.

3 Stack’s Auction Catalog (November 7, 2006), lot 2024 (http://legacy.stacks.com/Lot/ltemDetail/118309).

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4329

To date, no Mint records have
been located directly linking
any Philadelphia artists to
these silver oval medals. Only
Joseph Richardson, Jr., with
his signature JR hallmark
has been confirmed to have
engraved some of the silver
oval medals. Some believe
the few known silver oval
medals hallmarked IR are also
Richardson’s although his
father used the same hallmark
until his death in 1784.

Instead, we postulate that
the IR hallmark may actually
be a poorly stamped TR, and
therefore names Trenchard.

It is widely believed that
Richardson worked on the
large-size Chief Red Jacket
silver oval medal dated 1792,
despite the lack of a hallmark
(Fig. 8, below). Only two other
silver oval 1792 medals are
known with hallmarks, both of
JW (Figs. 10 and 11, below).

This hallmark is believed to
represent the initials of the
first American etcher,"^ and
first Engraver, Draughtsman,
and Die-Sinker of the U.S.

Mint, Joseph Wright, Jr.^ The
1792 medals, particularly
the small size, are the rarest
of the silver oval medals.

For subsequent issues,
government archives reveal a
delivery of at least 68 medals
dated 1793 (50 hallmarked
JR and 18 with JL) and 114 oval medals dated 1795. It has been noted that most of the 1793
and 1795 medals were engraved by Richardson. The Chief Red Jacket medal and the later
medals engraved by Richardson are superior in engraving artistry to other silver oval medals
known. As we discuss and illustrate below, other Philadelphia engravers collaborated on the
medals, largely under the auspices of the esteemed Scottish line engraver Robert Scot. The
only other hallmark noted on these later issues is JL or IL. There are several candidates for the
identification of JL, but it appears probable that these pieces were engraved by Joseph Loring

4 J. R. W. Hitchcock, Etching in America, with Lists of American Etchers and Notabie Coiiections of Prints.
(New York, 1886): 14-16.

5 Monroe H. Fabian, Joseph Wright: American Artist, 1756-1793 (Washington, D.C., 1985): 61.

Sequential page 4330 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

of Boston, who used a JL hallmark after 1766, or possibly John Lynch of Baltimore, although
he is only known to have used J. LYNCH as a hallmark around 1786.®

The skills of the local engravers of the oval medals varied considerably. The silver oval medals
of 1792 lacking hallmarks show considerably more detail and shading than those dated 1789.
It has been written that genuine silver oval medals were routinely polished using fine sand, and
that this would cause the central area of the medal to appear more worn than the outer areas.
However, a close examination of high-resolution images of medals presented here, in cited
references, and in auction catalogs, reveals sporadic instances of such wear and inconsistent
wear patterns, and if such patterns exist they appear to be fairly minor.

As chronicled in the 2015 book, Robert Scot: Engraving Liberty, by William F. Nyberg, we now
know that under the tutelage of Master Mason Robert Scot, there were at least five apprentices
and assistant engravers, including Samuel Allardice, James Thackera, John Vallance, Francis
Shallus, and Joseph Wright, Jr. Scot delegated his workload to these men who worked together
on a wide range of engraving projects in the 1780s and 1790s. The first four men are known
to have assisted Scot in the massive undertaking of engraving numerous scientific plates for
Thomas Dobson’s Encyclopaedia and other publications. Scot was one of, if not the only early
American line engraver who permitted his apprentices and assistants to hide their initials in
their work.^ Artists have been known to sign their works using pseudonyms, monograms,
symbols or indecipherable signatures.® Allardice and Shallus hid their initials in copperplate
engravings while apprenticing for Scot and even after Scot became Chief Engraver at the U.S.
Mint. Assistant U.S. Mint Engraver John Reich cleverly hid his initials, JR, in the Capped Bust
coinage designs while Scot was Chief Engraver.^ Wright’s collaborations with Scot appear to
be limited to medals, including the silver oval Washington medals on which we have identified
both of their initials (Figs. 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13, below). Nyberg reported that Scot did not
hide his initials in his work,^® but we provide overwhelming evidence to the contrary here. The
unique engraving styles of three to four artists combined with the presence of hidden initials on
select silver oval medals, strongly suggests a collaborative effort was needed among Scot and
his cadre of apprentices and assistant engravers to produce the large number of silver oval
medals needed by the U.S. government in a short amount of time. At the same time that they
had to complete this urgent work for the nascent U.S. Mint, these men also fulfilled other artistic
obligations that were likely considerably more lucrative, including the burgeoning American
publishing business. Further, we cannot emphasize strongly enough that to date we have been
unable to identify any hidden initials on known counterfeit silver oval medals.

Robert Scot, First Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint

Robert Scott (later shortened to Scot) was born in Canongate, Scotland in 1745. He was
first trained as a watchmaker in England, and then learned the art of engraving. He arrived
in America in 1774, and engraved plates for subsistence money, banknotes (Fig. 5), bills of
exchange, and office scales. While living in Fredericksburg and later Richmond, Scot served as
Virginia’s state engraver beginning in 1780. He became acquainted with Thomas Jefferson and
was hired to engrave the 1780 Happy While United Indian Peace Medal used to commemorate
an alliance between the region’s native tribes and the commonwealth (Fig. 1, above). In 1781
he fled the British invasion of Richmond and moved to Philadelphia where he developed a

6 Russell Rulau and George Fuld, Medallic Portraits of Washington, 2nd ed. (lola, Wl, 1999): 85.

7 Robert Scot: Engraving Liberty (2015) American History Press. By William F. Nyberg.

8 American Artists: Signatures and Monograms, 1800-1989. (1990) Scarecrow Press. By John
Castagno.

9 William Nyberg. (2007) John Reich’s Hidden Initials. John Reich Journal Volume 18, Issue 3.

10 Nyberg 2015: 85.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4331

business as a portrait and scientific plate engraver and became a highly sought-after artistJ^
There were about a dozen active engravers in the Philadelphia area in 1781. Some of the
lesser-known engravers were in business only for a short duration, or did their work as a
supplement to their other artistic endeavors. Scot proved to be a magnificent engraver and
much favored mentor for aspiring artists. His skill level is best exemplified by a battlefield
map, Investment of York and Gloucester, which depicted the decisive battle of the American
Revolution. In this engraving, Scot included an image of the American flag for the first time on a
map. Another of Scot’s masterpieces was an engraving of the frontispiece for Ahiman Rezon,
a book which contained the rules, duties, prayers, songs, and the fundamental philosophy

11 Nyberg2015: 57.

12 Nyberg 2015: Gallery of Images.

Sequential page 4332 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Figure 6. Letter from President Washington’s nephew, Bushrod Washington, addressed to the President’s
personal secretary Tobia Lear. Courtesy of William Reese Company, New Haven, CT

of Freemasonry. Although Scot was a Master Mason adept at engraving scientific drawings,
maps, geometric shapes, and heraldry, his engraving of animals showed unfamiliarity with the
subjects. Scot (and some of his apprentices) initially had difficulty with eagles, but eventually
learned to engrave good representations on federal stamps and the heraldic eagle coinage in
later years.

Scot also engraved numerous seal dies throughout his career, which were used to validate
official documents. He became the preferred engraver of federal seals by a wide margin, as he
executed the die for the first Great Seal of the United States in 1782.^^ He also executed dies
for the College of William and Mary in 1 783, the Department of the Navy in 1 798, and the State
Department in 1802.

13 Nyberg2015: 50.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4333

In the period from the mid-1780s until about 1793, Scot and his apprentices were inundated
with engraving contracts for currency, seals, and scientific copper plate engraving for William
Nicholson’s Natural Philosophy and Dobson’s Encyclopaedia. Also, Scot may have taken a
short trip to Great Britain, returning in November 1 791 . A man named Robert Scott is mentioned
in a November 22, 1791, letter written by Bushrod Washington (George Washington’s nephew)
to the President’s personal secretary Tobia Lear (Fig. 6, above). In the letter, Bushrod mentions
Mr. Scott's recent return from Great Britain and requests that Mr. Lear pay special attention to
him prior to his formal introduction to the President.

On November 23, 1793, Scot was appointed Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia
by the Mint Director, David Rittenhouse. His appointment was advocated by Thomas Jefferson
out of necessity, due to the untimely death of one of his apprentices, the First Engraver of
the U.S. Mint, Joseph Wright, Jr. There were few others in America at the time who had the
level of skill that Scot had as a die-sinker and engraver. Congress refused to hire a European
company, so Scot got the job almost by default. What role that Scot’s exceedingly successful
engraving business and apparent short trip to Europe may have played in recusing him from
consideration for the First Mint Engraver position remains to be seen.

Joseph Wright Jr., First Engraver of the U.S. Mint

Joseph Wright, Jr. was the first American-born student at the Royal Academy of Art in London, the
first artist to sculpt a bust of George Washington, and the first to assume the position of Engraver
of the U.S. Mint in 1792. He was probably born in Bordentown, NJ, and was an accomplished
portrait painter. He was trained in England by American-born artist and President of the
Royal Academy of London, Benjamin West.^"^ These interactions with West early in his career
(ca. 1773) surely helped him to get accepted into the Royal Academy when he applied in
1775. Wright traveled to France in 1781 and used a recommendation letter from West to meet
Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, painter to the King of France. While in France, he stayed at the
residence of Benjamin Franklin for several months. In 1782, after much insistence from British
commissioner Richard Oswald, who wanted a painting of Franklin, the American polymath
reluctantly sat for Wright.

Wright returned to America in 1783, and was later introduced to General Washington who
— probably with some encouragement from the General’s friend. Patience Wright (Joseph’s
mother) — sat for young Joseph. In the fall of 1783 he painted Washington in oil on panel and
executed a plaster mold or life mask, as well as a clay bust. In 1784, Wright sculpted an
impressive plaster oval relief of Washington, currently owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’
Association.^^ An oft-repeated tale states that in 1784, Wright attended New York City’s Trinity
Chapel where President Washington was also in attendance. Apparently, “the sermon fell upon
deaf ears, for Wright, armed with crayon and paper, passed the time of service in drawing a
profile portrait of Washington, quite without the knowledge of his involuntary sitter.” From this
crayon drawing he made an etching which Baker calls “probably the first ever executed by a
painter in this country... For one, I am quite ready to acknowledge Joseph Wright as the first
American etcher, and the portrait of George Washington as our first simon-pure etching.”^®
Although this is a slight overstatement, Wright’s etched portrait of Washington was printed on
a small card and published the same year with copies distributed widely in England. This same
portrait appears on the “Twigg Medal” (Baker-65) and the Manly medals (Baker-61 and -62).^^

14 Fabian 1985: 22.

15 Fabian 1985: 113.

16 Hitchcock 1886: 14-16.

17 Rulau and Fuld 1999: 65-66.

Sequential page 4334 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Wright relocated from Philadelphia to
New York in April 1786. During this time
he developed his skills as a master
painter, and produced most of his
famous paintings. In the winter of 1790,

Wright moved back to Philadelphia with
his wife and children. Shortly after his
arrival, Wright continued his training
with Scot in the art of die-sinking
and engraving. Wright and Shallus
collaborated on a 1790 drypoint etching
of Washington on which the inscription
reads “J. Wright Pinx t FS” (Fig. 7).

"Pinx t" is an abbreviation for the Latin
verb pinxit, which means "he painted."

The bottom half of the letter S for Shallus
is weak, but clearly legible with minimal
magnification. We also see a possible
capital S for Scot in the curl of the ribbon
on which G. WASHINGTON, is etched.

Collaborations like this one between
Scot’s apprentices Wright and Shallus
strongly point toward a collaborative
effort within the Philadelphia art guild.

Around the time the U.S. Mint was
established by an act of Congress on
April 2, 1792, Scot and his apprentices
were flooded with copper plate orders
for the Encyclopaedia.'^^ Fabian wrote,

“[Joseph] Wright, in cooperation with
Thomas Jefferson, may have begun his
work in the realm of national numismatics
at about this time.”^^ These facts may help
explain why Wright was favored over the
older and more skilled Scot. As the story
goes, early in his presidency, Washington
and Secretary of State Jefferson, diligently sought after talented European engravers to design
the first U.S. coins. However, they failed in this endeavor and ultimately decided in the second
half of 1792 that Mint Director Rittenhouse should appoint Wright, a favorite of Washington and
Franklin, as the Engraver of the nascent Philadelphia Mint. In August 1793, Wright was also
designated as the Mint's "First Draughtsman & Diesinker." He was responsible for the Liberty
Cap designs on both the half and large cents. These designs were based upon the obverse
of the Libertas Americana medal, which Wright is widely believed to have designed. He was
also the designer and engraver of the 1792 Wright Quarter, a pattern struck in copper and
white metal.^° Wright died prematurely at the age of 37 during the 1793 Philadelphia yellow
fever epidemic. Unfortunately, the precise identities of some of the other early coin and medal
designers and engravers in Mint history are largely unknown.

18 Nyberg2015: 81.

19 Fabian 1985: 59.

20 See http://www.coinfacts.eom/patterns/1 792_patterns/1 792_quarter_dollarJudd12.htm.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4335

Case Studies of Representative Silver Oval Washington Indian Peace Medals

1792 Chief Red Jacket Medal (Buffalo Historical Society), large size - 127 x 171 mm

In March and April of 1792, forty-seven chiefs representing the Iroquois Confederacy (the Six
Nations — Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Tuscarora, and Mohawk tribes) arrived in
Philadelphia to meet with President Washington, the Secretary of War Henry Knox, and the
Governor of Pennsylvania Thomas Mifflin. One Indian who took the most prominent part in
these conferences was the celebrated Seneca orator, Sagoyewatha, or Red Jacket. He was
given a large-sized medal dated 1792 (Fig. 8, below). Red Jacket valued his medal very highly,
and wore it on many occasions. Upon his death in 1839, the medal became the property of his
nephew, Sosewah, or Chief James Johnson, and when he died it passed to Donehogawa or
Door Keeper, better known as U.S. Army General Ely S. Parker.^^ In 1891, Parker wrote the
medal was evidence of "the bond of perpetual peace and friendship established and entered
into between the people of the United States and the Six Nations of Indians at the time of its
presentation. The medal was eventually purchased from Parker’s widow in 1898 by the
Buffalo Historical Society where it remains today.

Obverse: Numerous letters E and F can be found hidden in the Indian’s headdress (Fig. 8a,
below). It is unclear at this time what the 'E' denotes. The F initial marks are believed to be
those of Shallus who was hired by Scot as an assistant in 1792. Two of Trenchard’s J initials
can be found by the ear and at the top of the tallest feather. It is possible the J could be a first
initial of (James) Thackara or (Joseph) Richardson.

Wright engraved the detail on Washington’s coat and sleeve using his signature cross-hatching
with hidden JJW initials (Fig. 8b, below). Similar cross-hatching without the initials can be found
near the farmer guiding the plow.

At the base of the tree trunk, there is a section that is very distinctive looking and different from
the other line cuts of the tree (Fig. 8c, below). In this area, JT initials (Trenchard) and extremely
clear FS initials (Shallus) can be identified.

Reverse: Arguably, the most obvious of the hidden initials on this piece are those of Scot. A
prominent ST can be found in the inverted US in PLURIBUS (Fig. 8d). The method by which the
base of the U turns atypically to the left to form the left tail of the capital T makes it distinct. This is
the first known report of Scot using a pseudonym. The ST initials may also be an amalgamation
of the Scottish freemasonry’s tau cross and the lower part of the chi-rho symbol. 22 The eagle’s
eye is cut into a C-shape, similar to that on the Chief Farmer’s Brother medal (Fig. 9e, below)
and a 1792 medal in the American Numismatic Society (Fig. 12c, below). This same shape is
also found in the clouds of the two known silver oval medals hallmarked JW (Figs. 10 and 11,
below). The meaning of this C-shape is unclear at this time. The upper part of the beak has
a unique semicircular shape cut similar to a reverse J. It is unknown if this is an initial, other
symbol, or just an artifact. To the right of the J is the letter A that we suspect is an initial for
Allardice. The Chief Farmer’s Brother medal has a very similar letter A hidden in the eagle’s tail
feathers (Fig. 9, below).

21 Belden 1927: 13-16.

22 Ely S. Parker. Letter dated March 9, 1891. Published in the Geneva [NY] Gazette, March 18, 1891.
See http://www.pbs.org/warrior/content/timeline/circle/mulberrySt.html.

23 On these symbols see http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/masonic-apron-rosette.html and
http://kahalyahweh.net/Articles/chirho.htm

Sequential page 4336 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

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December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4337

Figure 8a. Enlargement showing F, J, E, and T initials in headdress and head of Indian.

Figure 8b. Enlargement showing ST and JJW initials in Washington's jacket.

Sequential page 4338 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Figure 8c. Enlargement showing JT, S, and F initials in tree.

Figure 8d. Enlargement showing ST initials in PLURIBUS.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4339

Believed to be unique to both the Chief Red Jacket medal and the Chief Farmer’s Brother
medal, the identical wire-style line engraving of the eagle’s talons, has a striking resemblance
to the talon engraving used for Trenchard’s famous Great Seal (Fig. 4, above). A letter V,
believed to be the initial of Vallance, or possibly Henry Voigt who a year later, in 1793, became
the Chief Coiner at the U.S. Mint can also be seen. This V is similar to the V found on the break
of the laurel branch stem on Washington’s famous “Dorsett” Great Seal currently on display
at Mount Vernon. The initials WJJ can be seen clearly on the eagle’s head and are without
question those of Wright. We believe the R and the J initials found are those of Richardson
and represent the first hidden marks documented for him. Note that the style of the R is quite
different from his hallmarked letter R found on a few oval medals and other fine silver pieces.
The letter T with the adjacent R probably belong to Trenchard. Trenchard used another set of
hidden initials, JT, which are very prominent and cannot be mistaken for anyone else other than
possibly his son-in-law, James Thackara.

1792 Chief Farmer's Brother Medal (Ontario Historical Society) , small size -81 x 124 mm

This medal (Fig. 9, below) was given to the well-known Seneca Chief, Farmer’s Brother who
was part of the delegation that accompanied Chief Red Jacket to Philadelphia in 1792 (Fig. 8,
above). Belden wrote, “While the current histories of this meeting in Philadelphia, in 1792, do
not mention the bestowal of other medals, it is more than likely that others, beside Red Jacket,
were favored. Farmer’s Brother [Seneca] is known to have possessed a medaP and, as he
was one of the chiefs, representing his tribe at this time, and his medal bears the same date,
he probably received it at the same time. There are other medals also dated 1792 which may
or may not have been given then.”^^

This medal is equally superb in quality to the Chief Red Jacket medal. Based on the hidden
initials found on the obverse and reverse, the main artist of this medal was Scot. Acid engraving
was used to make parts of the medal appear nearly three-dimensional. This technique was
used in the negative space and the area above the eagle. Coin historians have noted similar
techniques on early American coins, and on all U.S. Government seals made by Scot and his
Philadelphia-based engravers guild.

Obverse: Virtually the entire trunk is engraved with cipher symbols in a mathematical code that
may have been known only to the engraver. Just below Washington’s cuff, we see a prominent
mark by Scot, ST (Fig. 9a). Just below the ST we find an F for Shallus. The farmer guiding
the plow in the background reveals a crisp V, likely the initial of Vallance. On the back of the
farmer’s leg, we see a rather fine large T with a smaller J set to the right, possibly the initials
of Trenchard. Within Washington’s left epaulette we find an E. The meaning of this letter is
currently unknown (Fig. 9b). The engraving of smoke from the Indian’s calumet reveals an S for
Scot and a JT for Trenchard. Surrounding the stem of the calumet we also find an ST.

Reverse: The eagle engraving style is nearly identical to that of the silver oval 1792 medal
currently held by the American Numismatic Society (Fig. 12, below). The engraving of the
feet using wire cuts and the feathers are certainly reminiscent of, if not identical to, those on
Trenchard’s eagle for the Columbian Magazine in 1786 (Fig. 4, above).

Two letter As (probably for Allardice) and an F (Shallus) can be found on the right talon and leg,
respectively (Fig. 9c, below). Another prominent F can be found on the left talon and a series of
As within the tail feathers. An apparent JT is also present (Fig. 9d, below). On the eagle’s head
there is a JT and as part of the E in E PLURIBUS UNIM we find a JL, possibly representing the

24 William L. Stone. Life and Times of Red Jacket or Sa-go-ye-wat-ha (New York, 1841): 418.

25 Belden 1927: 13-16.

THE COLONIAL NEWSLEHER

December 2015

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Figure 9a. Enlargement showing ST, F, V, and TJ initials in Washington's jacket and farmer.

Figure 9b. Enlargement showing E, J, JT, S, ST, and X initials.

Sequential page 4342 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Figure 9c. Enlargement showing A, F, and JT initials on eagle.

Figure 9d. Enlargement showing A and F initials on eagle's leg and talons.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4343

Figure 9e. Enlargement showing JL, JT, and ST initials on eagle's head and in E PLURIBUS UNUM.

same engraver responsible for the few known oval medals hallmarked with the same initials
(Fig. 9e, below). In the last of PLURIBUS, we see a very large ST.

1792 Joseph Wright Jr. (JW) Medal (Woolaroc Museum), small size - 83 x 127 mm

Currently on display at the Woolaroc Museum in Bartlesville, OK,^® this silver oval medal was
excavated by Frazier E. Wilson on April 17, 1933 near the site of the Battle of Wabash in western
Ohio, which occurred on November 4, 1791 (Figs. 10 and 10a, below). It was purchased from
Wilson’s estate by Norman Tazwell in the 1940s and displayed in the Museum of Archaic Man
in Red Rock, MO, until 1950 when it entered into private hands. It was owned by the Shillington
family until 1983 when it was purchased by Joseph T. Hajek, a dealer in Winsted, CT, in 1984.^^
This medal was engraved by the first Engraver of the US Mint and Die Sinker and Coiner, Joseph
Wright Jr. and others in the engravers guild of Scot. This medal has a clear hallmark stamp
of JW. This hallmark is indisputably identical to that found on the drum in the 1793 painting
by Wright, of himself and his family (Fig. 14, below). The only other numismatic or exonumia
item with the identical hallmark is the silver oval 1792 New York-Wright medal (Fig. 11, below)
currently in private hands. In his discussion of the medal, Fuld misidentified the engraver as
Joseph Wyatt of Philadelphia. While Joseph Wyatt did have a similar J.W. hallmark, his mark
is made distinct from Wright’s by its upright block lettering with strong periods following each
letter. Further, Joseph Wyatt was confirmed to have worked as a goldsmith in London up until
1790, but did not resurface in the public record until 1797, when he opened a silversmith shop
in the Callowhill neighborhood of Philadelphia.

The precise timing of the engraving of the small size silver oval 1 792 (and other year’s) medals is
not known, but d ue to the substandard engraving quality of this piece and other genuine pieces.

26 See www.woolaroc.org.

27 Fuld 2012: 62.

THE COLONIAL NEWSLEHER

December 2015

Sequential page 4344

77 X 125 mm. Belden Plate 4C. Courtesy of the Woolaroc Museum

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4345

it is likely that Wright and
Scot engraved this medal in
haste due to the large number
requested by Secretary of War
Knox, as well as the fact that
Scot and his apprentices were
inundated in 1791 through
1793 by the large order of
copper plates requested by
Dobson for his Encyclopaedia.

Scot’s two known hallmarked
silver oval medals show that
he lacked experience in his
work, was not trained to the
same skill level as other
Scot apprentices, and could
not get much assistance
from Scot who was not
skilled in animal engraving.^^

Wright was inundated with
the burgeoning American
publishing business, and
may have just returned from
a short trip to Great Britain.

All of this notwithstanding,
the historical value and
importance of Wright’s two
known JW hallmarked pieces
is still obvious. The silver oval 1792 Woolaroc and New York medals by Wright represent the
earliest known surviving and identifiable hand-cut relics by an employee of the new U.S. Mint.
By contrast, the first circulating coins produced by the U.S. Mint were 11,178 copper cents
delivered in March 1793.

Obverse: Distinct JJW (Joseph Wright, Jr.) initials are prevalent throughout the cross-hatching
used on Washington (Fig. 10b, below). The smoke coming from the calumet appears as a
numeral 9 (identical to that found on the 1792 New York medal. Fig. 11, below). It is unclear why
the engraver chose the number nine, but it is plausible there may be a reference to the Nine of
Diamonds, also called the Curse of Scotland. Hidden on the rim at 4 o’clock on both this medal
(Fig. 10c, below) and the New York medal (Fig. 11c, below), we can just barely discern Scot’s
mark, ST. Although worn from handling and age, the discovery of these initials further support
the likelihood of a strong collaboration between the first two engravers of the U.S. Mint, Wright
and Scot.

Reverse: The reverse of this medal is identical in style to the 1792 New York medal. The
engraving style of the eagle’s heads is cartoonish in appearance on both. The stars above
the eagle are in the same locations and both show clouds with the connecting C symbolism,
perhaps symbolic of the Masonic Star Gate Arch.

28 Nyberg2015: 49-52.

Sequential page 4346 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Figure 10b. Enlargement showing JJ, JJW, and W initials on Washington's sleeve.

Figure 10c. Enlargement showing ST initials on rim.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4347

1792 Joseph Wright Jr. (JW) Medal (New York private collection) , small size - 81 x 125

Currently residing in private hands, your authors learned in 201 3 that this interesting silver oval
1792 medal (Fig. 11, below) came into the possession of an octogenarian gentleman living in
New York via a collection he inherited from a close friend. This gentleman informed us that his
close friend “spent a lot of time in northwestern New York State. This medal has a stamped
JW hallmark identical to that found on the 1792 Woolaroc medal, however this medal contains
a worn, crude engraving of the numerals 11.91 or possibly 11.4.91 on the obverse (Fig. 11a).
This is probably an ode to the most significant and pronounced Native American military victory
in history at the Battle of Wabash on November 4, 1791 . It remains to be determined whether
there is a connection between the 11 .91 on this medal and the Woolaroc, which was excavated
near the same battle site.

It is unclear whether this medal or the 1792 Woolaroc medal was bestowed on one of the 47
Indian chiefs of upstate New York at the 1 792 conference in Philadelphia, but the circumstantial
evidence points strongly toward this possibility. Belden alludes to the probability that chiefs
from the Six Nations received silver oval medals dated 1792. He described the only two 1792
Plate 4C examples he was aware of;

Two other medals of 1792 are known to the writer.. .One of these medals, size 81
X 124 mm, is in the collection of the American Numismatic Society. The other, size
81 X 127 mm, when last seen several years ago, belonged to a resident of New
York State, whose present address is not known. Nothing is recorded regarding the
original recipient of either of these two medals.

No update on the location of this medal was provided by Fuld in 2011. It is unclear but likely,
given the circumstantial evidence and nearly identical dimensions (81 x 125 mm or 132 mm
including loop), that the New York medal in private hands is the same one mentioned by Belden.
Fuld identified two other 1792 Plate 4C medals. One measuring 81 x 124 mm was given to a
Chief Keses and was sold in the Charles H. Fisher sale in March 1936 (lot 757). Another medal
measuring 80.5 x 133 mm belonged to the famous American collector F. C. C. Boyd. It was
catalogued and sold in Stack's John J. Ford, Jr. sale in May 2004 for $264,000 (lot 190).

Similarly to the 1792 Woolaroc - Wright medal, the engraving quality on this medal is not up to
the standards of the large-size Chief Red Jacket medal or the Chief Farmer’s Brother medal.
This medal does however appear to have some wear at the center of the medal on the obverse
and reverse indicative of a polishing method by Native Americans using fine sand.

Obverse: Distinct JJW (Joseph Wright, Jr.) initials are prevalent throughout the cross-hatching
used on Washington (Fig. 1 1 b). Again, hidden on the rim at 4 o’clock, we can just barely discern
Scot’s mark, ‘ST (Fig. 11c).

Reverse: Figure lid clearly shows Wright’s more personalized JJW on the eagle’s right leg.
The VJ initials are believed to be those of Vallance who apprenticed for Scot and Trenchard.

29 Personal communications with owner (December 11, 2013).

30 Belden 1927: 16.

THE COLONIAL NEWSLEHER

December 2015

Sequential page 4348

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4349

Figure 11a. Enlargement showing 11.91 on obverse.

Figure 11b. Enlargement showing 6 or 9 in smoke and JJ and W initials in Washington's sleeve.

Sequential page 4350 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER December 201 5

Figure 11c. Enlargement showing ST initials on rim.

Figure lid. Enlargement showing JJW and VJ initials in eagle's leg and leaves.

December 2015 THE COLONIAL NEWSLETTER Sequential page 4351

1792 Medal (American Numismatic Society), small size - 84 x 136 mm

This medal (Fig. 12, below) was donated to the ANS by Howland Wood and Elliott Smith on
January 15, 1921. No other information is available on this medal’s provenance or historical
significance. It is a Belden Plate 4C variety and is cataloged as ANS 1921.23.1.

Obverse: The Native American’s extended right hand shows three distinct sets of initials
(Fig. 12a, below). We are uncertain about the meaning of the Cl, but these initials have been
found on the eagle’s leg in Trenchard’s Great Seal and the National Coat of Arms painting,
which hangs adjacent to Washington’s original pew in St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church (New
York, NY). The G may be the last initial of the first employee of the U.S. Mint and famous
pattern engraver, Peter Getz. Lastly, the ST just below the hand is Scot’s mark. Again, we find
Wright’s signature clearly in the cross-hatching of Washington’s coat and sleeves (Fig. 12b,
below).

Reverse: As on Chief Red Jacket’s medal, we find a distinct ST associated with the S in
PLURIBUS. Interestingly, there is also a numeral 8 incorporated into the cloud engraving.

1793 Joseph Richardson Jr. (JR) Medal (U.S. State Department), 110 x 159 mm

This medal was gifted to the U.S. Department of State by Mrs. Mark Bortman purportedly in
1967 (Fig. 13, below). It is listed by Fuld as an authentic medium-size silver medal.

Obverse: In Figure 13a we find clear marks of Trenchard (JT) and one mark for Shallus (FS).
We also see the similar 9-shaped smoke from the calumet as seen on the Woolaroc medal
(Fig. 10, above) and New York medal (Fig. 11, above). There is also a stray unexplained F initial
on Washington’s right forearm.

Wright’s JJW marks can be found on Washington, and Scot’s ST marks near his left hand (Fig.
1 3b, below). Albeit challenging to see, we find near Washington’s ear the initials VJ, which are
probably those of Vallance.

Reverse: In the plumage we find a very clear R with a J just to the left (Fig. 13c, below). These
are likely to be the initials of Richardson. A very small diamond-style cut ST can be found in the
furthest right cloud.

Figure 13d exquisitely captures details of the eagle design, and we find a J over the eye
accompanied by a lower case r, that in theory could represent Richardson’s suffix, "Jr." Scot’s
ST is found with a weak preceding capital T.

The shield on this medal is cut with the same design and technique as that on Chief Red
Jacket’s medal.

31 Fuld 2013: 59.

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Figure 12a. Enlargement showing Cl, G, and ST initials in Washington's hand and jacket.

Figure 12b. Enlargement showing JJW initials in Washington's sleeve.

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Figure 13a. Enlargement showing F, FS, and JT initials in Indian's wrist, smoke, and Washington's

sleeve.

Figure 13b. Enlargement showing JJW, TS, and VJ initials on Washington.

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Figure 13c. Enlargement showing JR and ST initials on eagle.

Figure 13d. Enlargement showing C, J, R, and S initials on eagle.

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Hidden Initials in Selected Portraits by Joseph Wright Jr.

The Wright Family (1793), oil on canvas, unfinished

This painting was likely Wright’s last before succumbing to yellow fever in the Philadelphia
outbreak of 1793 (Fig. 14, below). Wright used the drum on the floor next to his daughter to
place his initials JW (Fig. 14a, below). The left-to-right angle of the JW inscription on the drum
is nearly identical to that of the JW hallmark on the Woolaroc and New York 1792 Washington
Indian Peace Medals (Figs. 10 and 11, above).

YANKEE-DOODLE. or the American SATAN (ca. 1780), self-portrait

This hand-colored etching is Wright’s earliest known self-portrait and was drawn from his
reflection in a mirror (Fig. 15, below). The theme of the portrait is quite interesting in that
the words Wright chose “Yankee-Doodle” had been for two decades, a derisive term for an
American, and “American Satan” hints at unforgivable behavior. The only known incident in
the artist’s early life that could be so satirized, was his exhibition at the Royal Academy in
London of a portrait he did of his mother Patience Wright modeling the head of Charles I. This
became quite a scandal for Wright and it was his first and last submission to a Royal Academy
exhibition.

A closer look at Wright’s etching method reveals hidden JW and JJW initials on the buttons of
his coat as well in the shading along the button line. In the eighteenth century, individuals who
could afford buttons generally used monogrammed initials. We also see his signature cross-
hatching and shading technique with hidden initials to be identical to that found on a practice
board that Wright used as a shim to keep his ca. 1775 painting. Portrait of a Lady, in its frame
(Fig. 17b, below) and clearly on a silhouette of a lady executed by Wright in 1783 (Fig. 16,
below).

Portrait of a Lady (ca. 1775), sold by Christie’s in 2005

Around the date on the reverse of this painting February 2, 1775, Wright was preparing his
application to the Royal Academy of London’s Keeper of the Royal Schools. Applicants were
required to submit a drawing or model from a plaster cast. The Keeper must have found Wright's
initial submission acceptable since he had to pass a second test, another drawing or model
from a plaster cast in the possession of the Academy. On April 8, 1775, the Council of the Royal
Academy admitted Wright and five others into the school of design. It appears entirely plausible
that Wright used this painting during his application process (Fig. 17, below).

In this painting, Wright was consistent in leaving his JJW initials (Fig. 17a, below). Even more
intriguing is the discovery by your authors of a practice board used by Wright as a shim to hold
the portrait in frame (Fig. 17b, below). On this shim we find his signature cross-hatching (cf.
Figs. 8, 10, 11, 12, and 13, above). When the shim was actually added to the frame cannot be
determined, but it could have been during the short time he worked on the silver oval medals
for the U.S. Mint. The elegant handwriting on the painting’s frame (Fig. 16c, below) is identical
in style and prose to a January 20, 1785 handwritten bill tendered from Wright to the U.S.
Government for a bust of Washington (Fig. 18, below). Note the up-stroked stem of the lower
case letter d in "modeling" and "order" indicative of a flourish or ornamental stroke. Thus, we
believe the handwritten inscription was completed by Wright.

32 Fabian 1985: 29.

33 Fabian 1985: 29.

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Figure 14. The Wright Family, 1793. Oil on canvas (unfinished). By Joseph Wright, Jr. Courtesy of the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Gift of Edward S. Clarke.

Figure 14a. Enlargement showing JW initials on drum.

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Figure 15. YANKEE-DOODLE. or the American SATAN. Hand-colored etching. Self-portrait by Joseph
Wright, Jr. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.

Figure 16. Lady’s Silhouette, 1783. Philadelphia. Joseph Wright. Sold on eBay on September 11, 2015.

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Figure 17. Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1775. Oil on canvas. By Joseph Wright, Jr. Courtesy of Michael Hall
at Michael Hall Antiques (Nashville, 77V).

Figure 17a. Enlargement showing JJW initials in bonnet.

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Figure 17b. Cross-hatching on shim in frame.

Figure 17c. Handwritten inscription on back of frame.

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Figure 18. Handwritten bill tendered from Joseph Wright, Jr. to the U.S. Government for his work on
a bust of George Washington. Dated January 20, 1785. Papers of the Continental Congress, National
Archives.

Conclusions

There is a lot of mystery surrounding who engraved each of the silver oval Washington Indian
Peace Medals and when. Through detailed analysis and the discovery of hidden initials,
signature engraving styles, and symbolism, this paper sheds light on the identities of some of
the Philadelphia engravers charged with hand-engraving these important pieces of Americana.
Most, if not all of these engravers appear to be known associates of Robert Scot, the famous
Scottish line engraver, first Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint, and Freemason. We are optimistic
that this endeavor will serve as a starting point for similar investigations and future debate on
other silver oval medals with and without indisputable provenance. These earliest relics of the
U.S. Mint are of such great importance to early America, they should bring scholars together
to advance their study.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Woolaroc Museum,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Michael Hall at Michael Hall Antiques, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, Ontario County Historical Society, Princeton University, Brown University, the
U.S. Department of State, and the National Portrait Gallery for their assistance in aquiring
high resolution images. We would also like to thank Mr. Michel-Gerald Boutet for lending his
expertise in the partial translation of the Ogham found during this investigation.